OIL PAINTING "Washington Crossing the Delaware" probably painted by Robert Wise after Emanuel Leutze, 1874. The original painting by Leutze is 12' high by 21' wide, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This famous painting is purely imaginary: a) the flag shown was not yet used by the Army; b) the boats were specially constructed to navigate shallow rivers with platforms for sailors to pole, not row, across the water; c) on December 25, 1776, visibility was poor but there were no ice floes in the river; d) soldiers would have carried musket barrels downward to protect from moisture and bayonets were not fixed until close fighting in battle; and e) had Washington been standing he would have pitched overboard!